Making therapeutic proteins last longer

Happy TRAILs to you: PEGylation of proteins through complementary interactions between a His-tag and a Ni2+ complex of nitrilotriacetic acid (NTA, see picture), a well-established practice in protein research, was used to improve the half-life of therapeutic proteins in the blood following systemic administration in vivo. Animal models show that this site-specific modification improves the efficacy of modified TRAIL proteins.

Proteins are responsible for pretty much everything in the human body. When there is a problem with the proteins, it usually leads to disease.

Protein therapy shows enormous potential for treating disease. But sometimes the proteins in a therapeutic treatment break down or are metabolized before they ever reach their target destination.

In a recent paper published in Angewandte Chemie, researchers from the laboratories of Martin Pomper (radiology oncology) and Seulki Lee (radiology, Center for Nanomedicine) at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and developed a simple method to validate protein drugs in animal models, said Lee. An illustration related to the paper appeared on the cover of the journal.

“We show that we can extend the half-life, that is, the amount of time the drug stays in the blood, while maintaining the activity of the model protein drug, TRAIL,” said one of the lead authors Maggie Swierczewska. “This has great implications for drug screening and validation methods, especially for the growing protein drug market.”

According to the paper, by attaching a molecule of polyethylene glycol (PEG) to certain sites on the TRAIL protein drugs through an already well known method, the half-life of the drug could be extended without affecting its beneficial activity.